


The fires have dulled to ashes... (...the wars have all been won)

by I_have_a_Mycroft_of_my_very_own



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Another 'Zuko never escapes after the Eclipse' fic, Description of captivity, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Torture, Toph and Zuko betrothal, Toph and Zuko friendship forever, and nothing else in this fic, but Toph is like twelve so it's just a betrothal, doing what is needed to survive, this family is just angst central
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:47:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23627911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_have_a_Mycroft_of_my_very_own/pseuds/I_have_a_Mycroft_of_my_very_own
Summary: Turnabout is fair play. An eye for an eye makes the whole world burn...
Relationships: Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Iroh & Ozai (Avatar), Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), Ozai & Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong & Zuko
Comments: 61
Kudos: 416





	1. (in a cage) Trying to hide this rage

**Author's Note:**

> First off. I love Iroh. BUT I am so stuck on the idea that Iroh never interfered in the Agni Kai. I'm just trying to imagine my favourite uncle looking away if my parents ever abused me in front of him. None of my uncles woulda just sat there, tbh, no matter who my parents were...
> 
> Chapter title taken from What Have I Become by All Good Things

He doesn’t realize until after the Eclipse, when he is rotting away in a prison cell, why he was always so angry with his uncle. Why it was so easy for him to betray his uncle in Ba Sing Se. 

Uncle betrayed him first.

He hadn’t even realized he’d felt betrayed by Uncle at all. Not until now. When he has had time to process everything. 

Uncle _never_ protected him from Ozai. Not once. Not a single Agni damned time.

Uncle protected him from Azula, from Earth Kingdom soldiers, from traitors amongst their own, from Zhao. But Uncle never protected him from _Ozai_.

Maybe that’s what a loyal Fire Nation citizen should do. Not stand against their Fire Lord. Uncle wasn’t a loyal Fire Nation citizen. They’re both traitors. But Zuko’s the only one who stood up to Ozai. Uncle just... moved in the shadows, so he could pretend he was loyal. Never outright opposed Ozai, all the while he was making moves in the darkness.

But he never moved for Zuko.

 _If it had been Lu Ten, would he have moved, then?_ The traitorous thought has been popping up with more frequency the longer Zuko has had to ponder over this. 

He already knows the answer, of course.

Uncle would move mountains for Lu Ten. 

* * *

Of course, it is Uncle who frees him. Uncle and the blind earthbender. 

The Zuko he had been on the day of the Eclipse would have clung to his Uncle and cried and apologised and begged for forgiveness. The Zuko he is now, after months without seeing the sun, after months of his only human interaction being when his father came to torment him, he doesn’t do anything like that. 

Uncle hugs him, his arms crushing him tight. Zuko doesn’t react, partly due to being little more than skin and bones and partly because he’s still angry. It’s all he has left for this world that has beaten him at every turn. 

His father had told him the Great Plan for the day of the comet. Zuko had figured it was poetic justice for a world that had ruthlessly burned _all of his dreams_ to ashes. For a few fleeting moments, he’d wondered if that was why his father was burning the world, too. Then it hadn’t mattered anymore, as if it had ever mattered.

Uncle clings to him and cries and Zuko just sits there, letting him, all the while he seethes with rage. Rage for his cousin who died for no reason. Rage for his grandfather who ordered his death. Rage for his mother who abandoned him to a father who knows nothing of love. Rage for a father who feels no guilt for burning his son over and over. Rage for a sister stuck having to choose between her father and her brother and really only being given one viable option if she wanted to keep breathing. Rage for an uncle who was... never there when he was needed, or who pretended not to see it when he was.

If he didn’t have his rage, he’d have died days ago, when his inner fire started to burn out and all he had to fuel it was his rage. 

“Zuko?” Uncle must have finally noticed he’s the only one emotionally invested in this reunion. Zuko doesn’t actually intend to speak, not for a single second, not a single world. So, when he feels words grating up his raw throat, he surprises himself. 

“Why didn’t you ever protect me from _him?_ ” the words wrench themselves over his chapped lips and he refuses to say more. Refuses to give voice to the angry, scarred, scared child he never stopped being. Even as he feels something, he thinks might be desolate sadness, lurking beneath his rage. He stuffs it down, swallows it whole and refuses to let it free. 

He doesn’t actually care why his uncle never protected him from Ozai. In those early days in the cell, before he’d started wasting away, he’d cared. But when he was left licking the water that seeped into his cell from a crack in one of the walls. When he was left to catch and burn and eat the rats that scurried along the floor of his cell. When he was left to eat the rats raw because he could no longer spark a flame, well, he stopped caring. 

Mother never protected him from Ozai, either. She took out Azulon and patted herself on the back and fled towards a new life. Leaving him and Azula to fend for themselves against the man she _knew_ was all _too_ willing to _murder_ them. 

The two people he has loved most in the world and the _least_ they’ve ever given him has been the most love that he has ever known. Azula’s always been right. 

Love makes you _weak_. Teaches you to rely on others. No one kept him alive in this cell but _him._ He doesn’t need anyone. Just his rage. 

So, his uncle talks and he doesn’t listen. His uncle cries and he doesn’t. His uncle hugs him and he doesn’t reciprocate. He just sits there and hates and rages and vows he’ll _never_ be weak again. 


	2. It was not your fault(but mine)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, still no laptop, but found my tablet, so it's a little easier to type on that...
> 
> Warnings for this chapter: Description of the death of a canonically dead character... also general heartbreak...

Iroh has thought about Zuko often since his escape on the day of the Eclipse. Those in the Capital still loyal to him swore up and down that his nephew had escaped then, too, so he hadn’t worried. But maybe he should have.

He should have done a lot of things that he never did. 

* * *

The palace is empty when they arrive. Well, that’s not true. The palace is empty of _Azula._ The servants and guards scurry about but they do not know where Azula has gone. Only that she left in an air balloon with Mai and Ty Lee the day after the comet, leaving Li and Lo in charge. No one knows when she will be back.

The Fire Sages will not crown him.

“We already have a Fire Lord. When she returns, you may challenge her for the throne, as you should have done with your brother long ago. You did not fight for your throne, Iroh, how can we support you?” Head Sage Huojin questions, Iroh has no answers. He could speak of many reasons for why he didn’t fight, but in the wake of Ozai’s destruction, all of his reasons are nothing but wasted breath.

He let Ozai win, long ago.

* * *

A week after the rest of the Gaang arrived in the Capital, Toph arrives. She is in the palace approximately five minutes before exclaiming “Oh, cool, you found Sparky!!” she doesn’t see the way everyone pales and freezes in place, but she feels their hearts skip beats, hears the shocked and confused intakes of breath and she frowns. “You... don’t know that Sparky is here.” She surmises, then feels for Sparky with her bending, realizes his heartbeat is faint, not because of distance, but because Sparky is _fading._ Realizes that Sparky is in an air pocket buried beneath their feet with no path to him that isn’t earthbending and she snarls. “ _Fuck_. I am going to kill Ozai!” she announces before she grabs Uncle and sends them both shooting under the earth.

When she breaks into the cell, the stench hits her hard and fast and she finds herself gagging on it. Uncle is shaking with rage beside her, but he recovers before she does. His legs carrying him to the only occupant of this little cell. _Well, the only living occupant._ She corrects herself, noting the animal bones scattered around the space. She feels the water trickling down the far wall and the tunnels the rats have made and she knows this combination of things is the only reason Sparky is still breathing.

She doesn’t need eyes to know he’s bad off. She can feel all of that. She also doesn’t need eyes to know Sparky isn’t happy to see _them._ She breathes in, around the rotting stench that turns her stomach, and tries to understand.

Sparky gives her everything she needs to know why.

“Why didn’t you ever protect me from _him?_ ”

She doesn’t think Sparky meant for the words to sound desolate, like the world had dropped from beneath him, she guesses that it has. She doesn’t think he knows how broken he sounds. But he probably already knows he is broken, so it doesn’t matter.

She listens to Uncle try to defend himself and she can tell that even Uncle doesn’t know why. She can tell Zuko isn’t listening, that Zuko is here, but he’s just there because he has to be. 

* * *

Iroh is numb. When Toph had announced in surprise that they’d found Zuko, his heart had leapt, had thought that Zuko had heard of Ozai’s defeat and returned. Then he’d seen Toph’s face crumple for a second, like she was going to cry, then she was snarling and swearing and vowing to kill Ozai and Iroh’s heart was already sinking even before she grabbed him and sent them shooting down through the earth.

Lu Ten died buried in the earth, crushed and suffocating, gasping for air that would never come. Iroh’d had to promise to free _all_ of the prisoners still on the front line before a single one of them agreed to bring his son’s broken body back to him.

He has to remind himself that Zuko has to still be breathing for Toph to know he’s there. She recognises his heart beat. Dead men don’t have heartbeats. It is little comfort, worth even less when they finally crash into the cell and he gags on the smell. His eyes watering even as his anger rises. Fire blooms around them, and he lights the torch he glimpses in the brief moment of light. He could never be prepared for what greets him when he turns. 

_I should have killed Ozai!_

He only recognises Zuko by the scar on his face. It’s just one of many, now, the oldest of many. His nephew is little more than scars and bones.

His breath control is shot. The torch flickers. Stuttering in tune with his breath, with his heart.

He doesn’t realize he’s sobbing until he’s scooped his unresisting nephew into his arms. He clutches the son of his heart to his chest and cries as his heart tears apart inside of him. 

Zuko doesn’t respond. 

“Why didn’t you ever protect me from _him?_ ”

For a moment, just a blip of time, his heart stops, his breath freezes in his lungs, his inner fire dims. Then times shifts and he breathes, sobbing on it.

Words tumble out of his mouth, but they mean nothing, _less_ than nothing, because he doesn’t know. Has never been able to justify, even to himself, why he never defended Zuko from Ozai. Never been able to explain why, in the moment that mattered the most, he looked away. 

Zuko doesn’t hear him. Is like a ragdoll in his arms and Iroh feels the desperation he had felt when he saw his son sucked beneath the earth. Feels the hysteric desperation that had had him on his knees digging at the dirt and _screaming, begging, bargaining, pleading for hours._

_Agni why?_

He remembers the way he had cried for his son, who never heard him, who never responded, as Zuko doesn’t now. 

The Fire Sages were right. How can they support him when he never fought for his throne? How can they support him when he fought for only one of his sons and not the other? 

How can Zuko trust him when he looked away when Zuko needed him most? 

_I’ll do better. Be better._ He swears, because he refuses to let Ozai win, refuses to let his only breathing son be lost to him, the way his first born is.

* * *

Toph lifts them back up and out of the earth. Listens to the horrified noises the Gaang and the palace staff make and she wants to scream at them. Like she wanted to scream at the townspeople after Hama. Seeing-people were so _blind._ They couldn’t see what the earth was trying to tell them, but she could. 

Zuko has been rotting away beneath all of them and they never even knew. 

She really is going to murder Ozai. Turn his bones to dust and see how quickly he collapses. It’s everything he deserves. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Iroh s trying for the throne because he thinks Azula is a lost cause. He wants the throne for Zuko, but until Toph had arrived from helping to repair Ba Sing Se, everyone thought Zuko was out somewhere in the world, rather than wasting away beneath their feet...
> 
> Also, Mai and Ty Lee never betray Azula, because as far as they are all concerned, Zuko is off out being a 'disgrace' to the Fire Nation again, so Azula hasn't slipped... yet.


	3. Swallowing pain (like it's shredded up glass)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is no Mother of Faces storyline. I gave Ursa a different reason to fuck off and never come back. 
> 
> Chapter title from Under A Very Black Sky by Sick Puppies

The first day of freedom is odd. The Head Physician decides he should spend as much time as he can in the sun. Zuko doesn’t argue, he has missed Agni’s warmth. This is also the first day in months that he has risen with the sun, you can’t rise with Agni when you can’t feel Him. So, he sits in Agni’s light and ignores the stares, he’s had three years of practice. He’s a master by now. 

Uncle sits with him for breakfast, Zuko is pretty sure he continues the trend of being a disappointment when he throws up everything he ate. It was a broth and it had looked so good after months of rat, but it had been too much and it sat wrong in his stomach.

He’d stuck to tea after that and ignored the looks Uncle would send him.

He was doing his best. Had been doing his best for as long as he can remember, so other people’s opinions mean nothing.

When Uncle leaves, the Avatar’s bison decides the only good place in the palace to enjoy Agni’s light is the spot right behind Zuko. 

Zuko doesn’t complain. Though, he does think it should be illegal for any creature to be so _soft_.

* * *

On the fourth day, Uncle gets called away sometime before lunch and the blind earthbender joins him. He’s pretty sure he should know her name but he doesn’t and he doesn’t know if he wants to, either, but she tells him anyway.

“The name is Toph Bei Fong. I am the greatest earthbender in the world and the only metal bender.”

Zuko looks at her, considers her words and nods slowly.

“Zuko. General disappointment and waste of fire.” He answers, his voice still struggling to be more than just pain and air.

“Dude, you tracked Aang all over the world. I bet if we’d had you when Appa went missing, you’d have found him within days.” Toph replies, Zuko can’t help the blush that forms on his cheeks, Appa groans behind him and he huffs, leaning back into Appa’s warmth.

“I freed Appa from the Dai Li.” He admits, thinking back on that time of his life, where things weren’t _great,_ but they had at least been _good_. Even with Jet being a pain in the butt. There is a beat of silence before Toph starts laughing. 

“See? Even though you weren’t with us, you still found Appa first. That is a skill, my friend, not something I’d consider a waste.” 

Zuko just grunts and doesn’t reply. He’s never particularly known how to deal with compliments, they were normally few and so fleeting, and when they came, he sometimes couldn’t tell if he should trust they were genuine. Normally, they weren’t.

“Why are you here?” he asks instead, because she is one of the Avatar’s friends and he is the Avatar’s enemy and the Capital is the _least_ safe place for them right now. 

“Where else wound I be?” she questions, sounding genuinely confused. Zuko frowns. 

“You’re the Avatar’s earthbending master. Shouldn’t you be, I dunno, teaching?” he says instead of what he means to say which is ‘literally anywhere else?’

“If my student wanted to learn, I’d be off teaching him, maybe. But he’s off exploring.” Zuko snorts at that and rolls his eyes. 

“Someone _did_ remember to tell him that _Azula_ is Fire Lord, right? The war isn’t over until _Azula_ says it is, no matter what Uncle and his Old People get up to.” He points out, a bitterness in his chest. He doesn’t want the throne, not anymore. But he knows his sister and if his uncle gets ahead of himself and moves before Azula is ready, she’ll reorder her plans specifically so she can spite Uncle. Uncle wrote Azula off as a lost cause long ago, maybe all this time, Zuko has just been a means to an end, before Uncle would write him off, too?

“You think Azula could defeat your uncle?” Toph asks, curiosity clear in her voice, Zuko sighs. 

_If Azula wanted uncle dead, he would be dead. Agni Kai or no._

“Azula doesn’t need to beat him. The Fire Sages won’t endorse him, the Dragon of the West, the beloved firstborn son of Fire Lord Azulon and Fire Lady Ilah, and they endorse a fourteen year old girl instead. A girl who has already claimed Omashu and Ba Sing Se as conquests, where Uncle couldn’t. What does that tell you?” Zuko had unashamedly listened to every word the servants and the infirmary staff had spoken around him, forgetting how exceptional his hearing is. All is not well for General Iroh in the palace. He shouldn’t have come with the Avatar and his friends, either. Uncle does no normally make stupid mistakes, but Uncle doesn’t know his mistakes are mistakes at all.

“We claimed back Ba Sing Se and King Bumi took back Omashu during the Eclipse." Toph points out, but she sounds like she’s already connecting dots.

“The man trying for the throne just reclaimed a city, occupied by Fire Nation, for a kingdom that we are at war with. How many Fire Nation soldiers and civilians died in Ba Sing Se? Perhaps they shouldn’t have been there in the first place, but that is where their Fire Lord commanded them to be, so there they were.” Zuko breathes in deeply and slowly lets it out. “The Fire Nation already blame Uncle for what happened at the North Pole. Personally, I blame Zhao and I blame the Avatar, but my feelings on the matter don’t count. Uncle is not in favour and Azula has done nothing but be loyal to her Fire Lord and her nation. They _love_ her.”

“Civil War or Assassination?” Toph asks, Zuko notes the way her body has suddenly become tense.

“There are _always_ assassins after the royal family.” Zuko hesitates for a moment, before shaking his head. “The Fire Nation has lost much since Aang awoke. They need someone to blame and Uncle, the man who lead the assault to reclaim Ba Sing Se from Fire Nation, has come back to the city with the boy who let a spirit possess him and _murder_ an entire naval fleet. Uncle has bought with him the children who killed an Air Ship fleet on the day of the comet. Who do you honestly think my people will blame? Especially since the only person your Avatar saw fit to let live is the man who ordered everyone else to their deaths.”

“I have to go!” Toph says, launching to her feet, Zuko laughs. 

“Yeah, maybe go remind your stupid friends that the war isn’t over until the _Fire Nation_ says it's over and the Fire Nation listens to _Azula_.”

* * *

Neither Toph or Uncle come back that day. Zuko soaks up Agni’s warmth in peace and picks at the food trays the servants bring him. He has no complaints about the gossip they bring him, either.

Manipulation runs in his blood. His mother was an actress, his father was a schemer. His uncle is a mastermind. His sister is a master of strategy. 

Yet, no one ever expected such things from him. 

Perhaps, now they would. 

* * *

On the fifth day, Zuko wakes to find his sister at the end of his bed. He does not startle, often in the past months, he would wake to find Ozai looming above him. Even before that, assassins would find him, even out at sea.

"Prince Zuzu.” Azula greets him, though her thoughts seem a million miles away. 

“Fire Lord Lala.” He returns, struggling to sit up, she does not help him and he does not ask. “Where did you go?” he asks, finally getting seated and cocking his head to the side. 

“Our parents have been sending letters to each other since our mother murdered our grandfather and ruined both our lives.” Azula answers, it takes Zuko a few moments to process her words, before anger bursts hot and bright within him. 

“I see.” Is all he says when he has his anger under control. He breathes deep and lets it out slow. “You found her, then?” 

“Kiyi.”

“What?” Zuko splutters at the non-sequitur. 

“The reason our lovely mother abandoned us.” his sister elaborates, fire burning in her golden eyes. “You see, she could never escape with either of us, so she took the only child Ozai didn’t know about. The only one that bitch would get to keep. The little baby still growing inside of her that she chose to name _Kiyi._ She replaced both of us.”

“Oh.” Zuko looks away, even as he wonders if he can ever claim a sibling who never had to endure Ozai’s definition of _love_ , a child who never had to _fight, beg, scream, hate, cry_ just to _survive_. When he looks back at Azula, he sees the same question burning in her eyes. 

“She is so little and naïve and _weak_.” Azula whispers, rubbing her arm. “We were never that naïve, that weak. _That happy._ ”

“We _were_. Before Lu Ten died. _I remember it._ Even before that, we were all happy once, father even saved me from drowning.” Zuko points out as his chest grows tight. “It was a long time ago. Maybe we should be happy that our sister will never know pain and fear as we have?" He asks, because Kiyi, the little sister he didn't even know he had, she is the only one, the only member of their family, who is innocent of anything. She is not responsible for their mother's decisions. 

“Probably." Azula agrees, crossing her arms over her chest. "Plus, if anything happens to us, I’ve ensured Kiyi will inherit. The Fire Nation will endure. _Our_ House will endure.” Azula snorts, fire and smoke shooting from her nostrils. “Mother was _displeased_ , but I asked if she’d rather I arrest her for treason and take Kiyi with me, instead. She stopped being a foolish idiot afterwards.”

“You know Uncle is here?” Zuko asks suddenly, no longer wanting to speak of their mother, or the child she'd thought was worthy of saving over her two already living, breathing, suffering children.

“I know. I am considering my options. The war _must_ end, but Uncle’s soft heart will see our Nation ruined within a year.” Azula answers, before her gaze becomes hard. “He let father live. After everything, he allowed our vicious, monster of a father to breathe air that our cousin no longer breathes. I thought Uncle loved Lu Ten above all, but the man who planned his murder still lives.”

“How did you find out?” Zuko chokes on the question, had hoped his father had just been lying, had just been trying to hurt Zuko more than he already had. It was a fools hope, as always.

“It is no secret among the Dai Li. Long Feng was ruthless and desperate for the siege to end before the Earth King grew more curious.” Azula considers him, cocking her head to the side as she looks at him. “You?”

“He told me. In my cell. I thought, I hoped, he was lying. He is a monster and he breathes the air he denied our cousin! Demand he be returned as part of the treaty negotiations. Bury him in the earth like I was, he can live and breathe and rot away like I did!” Zuko commands, his words becoming little more than snarling as his anger consumes him.

“I knew one day you would learn the rules of the game, Zuzu.” Azula says with a satisfied little smile on her face. She sighs wistfully before looking away. “I have to go and rule our nation. Get better, well enough you can sit beside me and be my heir and my greatest advisor. I cannot do this alone, Zuzu.”

“As my Fire Lord wishes.” Zuko promises, and once his sister has slipped out his window, he prepares for another day of R and R; reconnaissance and recuperation.

Only took him sixteen years, but he knows how to play the game now. 

The game of thrones. When you play the game of thrones, you win, you die trying, or you only wish you had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't mean to chuck in the GoT reference, it just happened... 
> 
> I also didn't mean for Azula to come back so soon but she had IDEAS! so...


	4. This girl is well acquainted (with suffering in a world that's left her tainted)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ironically, canon typical violence for this fandom covers 'burning your child's face off' so... but will give warning of descriptions of child abuse and burning... 
> 
> Chapter title from Tainted by Celldweller, which is such an Azula song... 
> 
> Wanted this chapter to be longer, but wasn't feeling it.
> 
> Also, in a world that has spirits and therefore traditions to apease spirits, why did anyone think it was a good idea to let the ocean claim an entire fleet of FIRE's children? Where they cannot be burned in death?

Azula sits in the air balloon, tending the fire as she watches Mai and Ty Lee bicker quietly across from her as she thinks about siblings. 

Zuko is her brother, Mai and Ty Lee are her sisters. Kiyi is... 

“ _Do you really have to leave, ‘Zula?”_

_“I have to keep our nation from self destructing.”_

_“But you could stay here, instead! I don’t want you to go!”_

_“We don’t always get what we want, sister. When you meet Zuko, our brother, you will understand this. I will see you and our mother again.”_

_“But, ‘Zula-“_

_“Goodbye, Kiyi.”_

Kiyi is her sister. Her _little_ sister who is going to grow up still believing the world cares what happens to her. By Kiyi’s age, Azula had already stopped believing in fairy tales. 

She looks down at her left wrist, where, if you know what to look for, you can see the scarred outline of a hand. It’s so faint, the scar tissue only _just barely_ a different colour to her skin. The first and only time her father lost his temper enough to permanently scar her.

She’d thought she hated him in that moment, but she had been young. Only five and didn‘t know what it was to truly hate. When she was eight, she thought she knew what hatred was when she woke up and her grandfather, the man who ordered her own death, was dead himself, but _not_ her father. The man who promised to do the deed, and her mother was nowhere to be found. She thought she knew what hate was then, but she didn’t. 

Not until she was eleven and watching her father burn half of her brother’s face off, the smell of burning flesh filling her nose, the sound of her brother’s screaming in her ears, the sight of her uncle in the row ahead of her _looking away_. That’s when she learned what true hatred felt like. 

But Kiyi doesn’t even know Ozai is her father. Will never even meet the man. She will never know the hatred and _pain_ that burns in her older siblings.

Azula knows she should be happy for her sister, but the fires of jealousy and envy have always burnt hot in her and it is _hard_ to be happy for Kiyi. Kiyi who has _never_ been forced to just _sit there_ and do _nothing as her skin burns,_ as her stomach revolts at the smell and sight of _her own burning flesh._ Kiyi will never know the sweltering heat of their father’s displeasure. 

_Zuko would be happy, though._ She reminds herself. Her brother with the too big heart and the too honest intentions, he would be happy for their sister. So, in his absence, she will _try_ to be happy, too. 

* * *

They arrive back in the Capital at night and quietly, they slip back inside the palace. Azula startles for only a moment when the Home Guard Captain, Izumi, steps from the shadows outside Azula’s room. 

“Your majesty, there is much you must know.” Azula’s most trusted guard says, so Azula ushers her inside the room and listens to everything that she has to say. 

She realizes she was wrong about hatred. She’d thought there was a level you would reach where nothing someone did could make you hate them more or less than you already did, but she was wrong. Ozai keeps finding new ways to make Azula hate him. He just doesn’t know how to stop. 

Her uncle doesn’t, either. How stupid can he possibly be? To commit outright treason in front of an entire city full of witnesses, then make a play for the throne like he hasn’t thrown away his right many times over. But Azula knows their people, knows that they are angry and hurting and so _tired_ of the war. Tired of sending their children off to die in far away lands. Tired of the whispers and the plotting in the shadows that has spread out from the court, where it should stay, and moved to infest the rest of the nation. Azula knows they want an end to the war, but not one that leaves them with no future, as her uncle’s plans would. 

Her people do not want the White Lotus in charge. They do not want a man who has let the Avatar pat himself on the back for _stealing_ their former Fire Lord’s bending. He should have petitioned Agni for such and let the Great Sun Spirit decide. But the Avatar cares nothing for the Fire Nation and their traditions, only the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe spirits are given any consideration. 

But that’s okay. Before she’d left to confront her mother, she’d already sent her most loyal fire benders and Ty Lee’s sisters out to the Air Temples to finally appease Agni and Fuojin, as her idiotic great grandfather should have done. As Zuko did for their people at the three temples he’d seen before he found the Avatar, but her brother didn’t know how to ease the spirits of the air monks, and their uncle, obviously, chose not to tell him. 

She was good at fixing Zuko’s messes, though. She has done it all her life. 

And if the Restless Dead of the Drowned Fleets at the North Pole and the edge of the Earth Kingdom want to devour the Northern Water Tribe or the small towns along the Earth Kingdom coast? Well, perhaps someone should have thought of that before ensuring hundreds of Agni's children would _never_ be able to find their way back to Him, because their bodies drowned and their spirits are forever trapped in rotting bodies. 

What is she meant to do to appease those spirits? Wait another hundred years so she can boil the ocean when the comet comes? Waste time and resources sending patrols to constantly have candle light vigils burning over the water to guide her lost people home? No. She will appease the spirits she can, and ensure the colonies light the vigil fires to protect them. Beyond that, the Drowned Men can do as they wish. What is dead may never die, and all that. 

* * *

Azula wants it kept quiet that she has returned, until it is time to strike, so she sneaks about the palace, the way, she, Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee used to when they were little. She slips through the window into Zuko’s room, he doesn’t wake, but he is injured and even she struggles to wake in the night when she is hurt enough. She watches him, is calmed by the steadiness of his breathing. Not the gasping, desperate, pained breathes they’d been that night, when he was burned and their uncle had disappeared to do _something_ , and Azula had snuck in to be by her brother’s side. She doubts he remembers. 

_“Breathe, Zuzu, you have to just breathe.”_

_“’Zula. Hurts.”_

_“I know it hurts, but if you control your breathing you can control the heat in the wound.”_

_“Breathe?”_

_“Yes, just breathe. Every day from now until forever, just breathe in, hold it, then slowly breathe out._ Always _, Zuzu.”_

_“Spite.”_

_“Yes. Breathe to spite everyone who has ever doubted your right to do it.”_

She’d been gone by the time their uncle had returned, but her brother had been breathing easier and there hadn’t been so much heat radiating from the wound anymore. 

Her brother’s breathing changes as he wakes and she smiles, pulled from her memories, they have so much to do. 

It’s not love. She tells herself, it’s shared pain, shared trauma, shared experiences. He leans on her because she leans on him but they know through _blood, sweat, tears, and burns_ that if and _when_ they _must_ go it alone, they will, and will survive, sometimes they will even _thrive_. 

So, she tells herself, it is not _love_. It is _survival_. 

* * *

She spends the rest of the day gathering and sharing gossip with her sisters while they each shift from one disguise, one painted face to another. 

Her mother was an actress, and she might have been worthless as a mother, but she’d at least taught Azula how to play any role for any occasion. At least she’d been good for something. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoop more GoT references...


	5. Don't test the ones you love (it'll only tear us down)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a laptop again!!! Yus!! Woo woot!!
> 
> The original version of this chapter was completely different and was going in a completely different direction, but... I hit a wall with that and had to start over and that's how we got here...
> 
> Title from Sister by Mumford and Sons

Zuko enjoys the charade that the girls put on. Each of them visits him many times over the course of the next few days, each time they’re wearing different disguises. No one but Toph knows and Toph only plays along because they haven’t tried to hurt her yet and they're in the middle of _Azula's_ palace.

At night, the girls all appear out of the shadows in his room and they discuss their options.

The Fire Sages have confirmed they stand behind Azula. Half of the Generals and Admiralty are courting treason, listening to their Uncle’s words. The Chi Blockers, more secretly known as the Four Winds, also stand behind Azula. Consensus among the people is that they want the war to end, but they also do not want Iroh as Fire Lord.

Zuko privately wonders how much of that is down to the fact that Iroh didn’t fight for his throne when Ozai usurped him, and how much is down to the fact that Ozai blamed Iroh for the North Pole and his people were all too willing to believe. Of course, Uncle’s invasion of the Ba Sing Se doesn’t help matters.

Two weeks after Azula returns, they decide to make their move. Zuko is well enough to be able to see the show.

* * *

Before Agni has risen, Azula sits herself down upon the dais and lights the curtain fires, her bright blue fire illuminating the space as she sinks into meditation. Beside her, Zuko seats himself with a book to read while they wait, they’d discovered as young children that when they meditate together, _properly_ , they each claim half of all the fires around them, resulting in odd brownish colour. They’d agreed it was better for Azula to control the fire alone.

Tucked in the shadows, Mai and Ty Lee wait quietly. They knew Toph would pinpoint their locations even before she entered the room, but Toph, while an extraordinary bender, was only one person and the others wouldn’t know where they were. Besides, it wasn’t likely Toph would even be in the War Chamber today.

* * *

They’ve waited perhaps an hour when the door opens and a general appears in the doorway. Zuko fights the smirk that wants to form on his lips when the colour drops out of the man. General Takashi has been following Uncle around like a lost puppy since his return to the Capital.

“Welcome, General. Come in, shut the door and, please, be seated.” Azula greets him, without opening her eyes or breaking her meditative pose. There is no noticeable difference to the flickering fires.

General Takashi bows low and comes into the room, he shuts the door behind him slowly, like he’s savouring his last glimpse of the world outside the War Chamber. He sits like he’s a man going to his own execution, which is all the admission of guilt they need, really. When a man knows he’s guilty and acts like it, do you need to ask his innocence?

The other generals and admirals filter in slowly, each startling in surprise when they find the fires lit, but each are welcomed inside before they can warn anyone else.

Their Uncle is the last one. He doesn’t startle when he steps into the room and finds the fires lit with Azula’s light. He, instead, hides a small sigh, bows low and goes to join his fellows at the table. Zuko quietly marks his page and sets his book aside. Sitting up straighter and watching the commanders arrayed before them.

“Thank you all for keeping our country from collapsing while I’ve been undertaking royal duties outside the Capital.” Azula starts, as she shifts, falling out of meditation. “There are some issues that need to be resolved before we continue.” She says, sharing a look with Zuko, who nods his head. “First off, I present to you all the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, Prince Zuko, first born son of Fire Lord Ozai and Fire Lady Ursa. Should I be required to leave the Capital again, Prince Zuko will act in my place. His words are my words.” She states, watching as the commanders share glances, half of them looking over to Iroh, as if to determine how he feels on the matter, but Uncle is giving nothing away.

“Further, I acknowledge, for our records, the noble birth of Princess Kiyi, daughter of Fire Lord Ozai and Fire Lady Ursa.” Azula says, pretending not to hear the shocked reactions from those gathered before her. “Given my sister’s birth just months after the deaths of my beloved grandfather and cousin, my sister was born and raised in secret. A protection should anything befall the rest of our bloodline. My sister will continue to be raised in secret, for the moment. However, I have ensured a smooth transition should she need to take over. Although, I should point out, my sister is all of six years old, as such, Lady Mai and Lady Ty Lee will act as her regents.”

“Now, we come to the most pressing issue.” She states, looking directly at Uncle. “I believe the last time I saw you, Uncle, you were considered a traitor to our nation and were imprisoned. Since that time, I have heard you committed further treason when you lead the assault on Ba Sing Se on the day of Sozin’s Comet. The assault that saw Ba Since Se wrenched from Fire Nation hands and given back to the Earth Kingdom. _Yet_ , here you sit before me, composed and without fear as if you are not and have never been a vile traitor.” The fire flares, little blue dragons roaring flames across the room. “Is it ego that has bought you here, Uncle? Or the belief that I will not execute family, even when they stab me in the back?”

“I have never betrayed my people.” Uncle states, voice clear and genuine.

“Your people do not believe the same.” Azula answers, frowning at him. “Have you walked amongst our people since your return to our glorious Capital?” she queries, cocking her head to the side. “Our people call for your head on a pike, Uncle. I’m inclined to give them what they want, but I know how dearly you are loved by my heir.” She says, glancing at Zuko, who looks between them worriedly, even though he knows this is all planned. They _discussed_ this. But even now, he still can’t help the stone that has suddenly formed in his stomach. This feels like he’s betraying Uncle all over again.

_He betrayed us first._ He reminds himself, but it doesn’t feel good.

Uncle considers them both carefully, a frown forming. Then, slowly he climbs to his feet.

“Fire Lord Azula, I challenge-“ Uncle starts, Zuko tenses even as Azula cuts him off.

“Before you go further, know that I will accept any challenge you make. However, the terms will be to the death, winner takes all. I wonder how our nation will consider you, then, Uncle? The man who was more than willing to challenge his fourteen-year-old niece for the throne but could not bring himself to challenge his own adult brother? I welcome your challenge, Uncle. Speak it, so we may know where we stand.” Azula states, meeting Uncle’s eyes. They stare at each other for an exceedingly long time, until Uncle looks away. “If you will not challenge, you will denounce all right to the throne and you will swear on _Lu Ten’s_ good name that you will _never_ conspire against me or Zuko _ever_ again.” Zuko sees the contention on his Uncle’s face. Knows his uncle cannot give up his right to the throne so long as he believes Azula to be no different to Ozai. Zuko sighs gently before indicating to Azula that he wants to speak. She frowns at him but nods her head. This isn't part of the plan.

“Sister, I will vouch for our Uncle’s honour. He has saved my life many times these past years when I was too stupid to see the dangers right in front of my eyes. Let me do the same for him. He was a good, _loyal_ Fire Nation man once, he can be that again, if we give him the chance.” Zuko pleads, knowing he’s risking much. But he doesn’t want Uncle _dead,_ he just wants Uncle to stop stabbing him in the back!

Azula frowns at him, her eyes dark as she considers his words, then a slow smile forms on her face.

“Very well.” She agrees, turning back to their Uncle. “Prince Zuko has vouched for you, Uncle. He believes that you will not conspire against us. His heart has _always_ been bigger than mine, but know this, _Uncle_. _When_ you fail him, and I _know_ you will, I _will_ curse your name for all time for forfeiting my beloved brother’s life. Make no mistake, he _will_ die for your transgressions. As Fire Lord Azulon ordered my own death in punishment for my father’s transgressions against him, so too will Zuko die for yours against me. And... don't even consider poisoning me the way our father poisoned grandfather, _I'll know_.” Zuko is not the only one to gasp at the revelation, even if it’s a revelation he’s already half come to on his own.

It was no secret to anyone in the palace that Ozai hated Zuko and would have preferred him to have died in his cradle, so why would Azulon think it a punishment to order Ozai to kill him?

No, he’d figured that out a little while ago, he’d just never bothered to put the rest of the pieces together and come to the conclusion it was his sister who was the one sentenced to death.

Looking at Uncle’s face, though, he knows nothing of any of this. Zuko almost laughs, he wonders if their Uncle had even figured out that his father was _murdered_. At least, it’s good to see that Uncle cares something for him, though. Not that it'll be any consolation when Uncle eventually forces Azula's hand.

He knows better than to speak in the War Chamber, yet he'd spoken anyway. Even when he tries to not be reckless with his life, he just can't help himself.

“Sit down, Uncle. We have other matters to attend to today.” Azula commands, turning her attention from their shell-shocked Uncle to their shell-shocked War Council. “Now, who wants to tell me why Fire Nation troops have started withdrawing from the Earth Kingdom? I don't recall ordering a redeployment?” she asks, a smile on her lips that is gentle and soft and hiding sharp teeth.

Zuko sits back to watch as their council stumbles all over themselves to throw each other under the Komodo Rhino. Uncle’s voice is never heard, he’s still too busy looking at the pair of them like they’re ghosts. That's alright, he and Azula have lived with their fair share of ghosts since they were children, he knows that eventually you get over it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Azula is lying about Ozai poisoning Azulon to protect Ursa, should she ever be needed back in the Capital. Azula knows they'll believe it of Ozai, even if the man himself were to deny it.


	6. (I won't let you choke on) the noose around your neck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops. There is just so much damn angst and it's never where or how I intended it to be!!!!!
> 
> Chapter title from the Cave by Mumford & Sons

By the time the meeting has finished, he and Azula have already decided to fire at least half of the council and they’ve briefly entertained the idea of completely disbanding and resitting it, instead. At the end of the meeting, Azula commands their Uncle to remain behind, before dismissing the rest of the council. Then she turns to Zuko, glances down at the book he’d put aside when the meeting started and she reaches over to pick it up.

“We’ll talk later. I have… parchment work.” She says, an ugly scowl on her face, Zuko hums and nods his head. He knows exactly how tedious parchment work is, he's had three years worth of it, ensuring his crew could continue being able to eat out at sea.

“I’ll come help when I’m finished speaking with Uncle.” He promises, as they both climb to their feet. Neither of them reacts when Mai and Ty Lee suddenly appear at their sides, the curtains billowing. They’ll need to organise their guards, too. He reminds himself, as Mai stands behind Azula and Ty Lee moves to stand beside him. “I’ll have my demands for you then, too.” He says, watching the vicious smile form on Azula’s lips.

“Thank you.” She answers, before looking at their Uncle with calculating eyes.

"Remember whose life rests on _your_ good behaviour." she commands, then she’s turning and sweeping from the room, the curtain of fire going out with one exhale, then his sister is gone. He stares after her for a few moments before he sighs and climbs down from the dais to meet his uncle at the table. Ty Lee quietly fades into the shadows, guarding them both in secret.

“Nephew?” Uncle queries, his eyes roaming over Zuko critically, the way they used to when Zuko was younger and they were stuck on a ship together and he knew that Zuko wanted to talk but wasn't sure if Zuko _would._

“You want the war to end, so you’ve been whispering in everyone’s ears since you got back to the Capital, but what you don’t understand, is this: The war would have ended _today_ , had you not interfered. _Now_ , Azula has to crush the conspiracy you were growing before she can focus on calling an end to the war. If she pulls the troops back now, the General’s will believe she is your puppet. So, the war goes on.” Zuko says, the words pouring out of his mouth as he glares at his Uncle. “I want the war to end, Uncle. Azula wants the war to end. Our people want the war to end, but because of your scheming, the war will go on. At least for a little while longer.”

“The Earth Kingdom cannot continue to fight. Ozai burned substantial amounts of their fertile land. Their armies will starve. Their _people_ will starve.”

“Then the Earth Kingdom is lost even if we pulled our troops out.” Zuko murmurs, mentally revising some of the demands he and Azula have been tentatively considering.

“When the war ends, they can rebuild.” Uncle points out, his brow furrowed in confusion. Zuko stares back, equally confused.

“Uncle, when Winter comes, _the Dead rise_.” He states, shaking his head in bewilderment. “Summer is Agni's domain. His warmth shining down upon us _and_ upon the ocean. Winter is Tui and La's domain. The Northern Water Tribe will be busy battling _our own dead_ , the Earth Kingdom will have no one to turn to for support for their own fight. If they can’t defend themselves from _us,_ their lives are already forfeit.” Then he scowls, crossing his arms over his chest. “Perhaps you should have considered them when you sent your vicious little band of children to down our air ship fleet over the _ocean!_ Didn’t you learn anything from the North Pole?” he demands, sees the colour that drains out of his uncle’s face, he laughs, bitter and wounded. “You _forgot?_ ”

“So much has happened since the North Pole. I became… distracted by what was occurring among the living that… yes, I forgot about the Dead.” Uncle admits, shoulders slumping. “Azula wants our people out of the Earth Kingdom before it falls, is that it?”

“Yes. If the Earth Kingdom falls to Fire Nation Dead, Azula wants the blame to fall squarely on the shoulders of those who ordered our people there in the first place and also on the ones who sent them to the deep.” Zuko answers easily, staring directly at his Uncle. “There are enough earth benders in the colonies to reclaim the lands should the Dead wipe out the whole kingdom. If we nurture the Southern Water Tribe, return their lost water benders to them, they can one day reclaim the North if it falls. The Four Winds stand ready to make their presence known to the world again; and have already gone to the Air Temples to restore the peace.”

“Balance.” Uncle says, in one shocked breath. Zuko hums in agreement.

 _“Yes_. Azula will claim all the honour and glory that comes with bringing the world back into balance, while the Avatar will take all of the blame. Azula has already started whispers among our people that it was _Roku_ who is to blame for the start of the War.” Zuko says, full of excitement, even though he knows they’re turning public opinion against one of his dead ancestors but if Roku had done his job in the first place, there’d be no need to spin a story. “That Sozin believed he was following a vision given to him by Agni but was really given to him by Koh. That it was Roku’s destiny to stop Sozin. That’s why he was chosen at birth to hold the Avatar Spirit but Roku didn’t even _try_. He told Sozin off, _once,_ then shot off to live on his island and ignored the rest of the world until the day he died. So, when the world fell out of balance, it started with him.” The worst thing about the story Azula's spinning is that he _believes_ it, or at least a version of it. It was Roku's task to keep the world in balance and he failed. Turned the world aside so he could retire on his island and pretend like he had nothing else to do in the world but bask in Agni's light and live to get _old._ All the while, their world was suffering and looking for him and he wasn't ever there. Well, if Roku wanted to slack on his duties, his great grandchildren would fix his error and Sozin's. But they'd drag both their names through the mud to do it.

“You’ll turn the world against the Avatar.” Uncle breathes, Zuko doesn’t flinch at the horror he hears in his uncle’s voice.

“The Avatar doesn't belong to any one nation, he belongs to _all_ of them... except us. The Avatar turned against the Fire Nation the day he let the Ocean spirit drag our people down into the deep.” Zuko replies, his voice little more than a growl. “The Avatar further turned against the Fire Nation when, instead of petitioning Agni, he _stole_ our Fire Lord’s bending, as if he has the _right_ to rip Agni's gift out of the chest of _anyone_ who stands against him. _If_ the Avatar wanted us to respect him, he should have thought about that before he disrespected us at every single turn. You heard of Chin Village? We're that on a national scale. He didn't kill our Warlord, he just stole Agni's light from him and we'll never let the world forget it. Not in a hundred years, not in a thousand. The world will remember the day the Avatar decided he could just steal the gifts given by the Great Spirits, as if he's too important to even _ask_ them first and if you wanted something else, you should have killed Ozai when you had the chance!"

“Zuko-“

“Azula and I are debating about why you let Ozai live, you know.” Zuko points out, before his Uncle can work up the steam to lecture him, when none of this would be happening in the first place if his Uncle had just done his damn duty. “Ozai orchestrated Lu Ten’s death, orchestrated grandfather’s death, usurped your throne, blamed numerous failures on you that were never your fault, and destroyed our world and yet, you permit him to sit, rotting in prison, _breathing_. Azula questions whether you ever even loved grandfather and Lu Ten _at all,_ or whether you’re just _weak_. But I think it’s simpler than that.” He says, carefully watching as Uncle’s breath hitches, watches as his hands shake. “You never knew the type of man your brother was, did you? Didn’t _want_ to know. Not even when he did _everything_ he possibly could to show you, you just… _looked away_ , pretended not to see, not to hear, not to _know._ It was easier if you didn’t know. Because if you did know, if you even allowed yourself to _suspect_ for a single moment, you knew you’d have to kill him and you’re not the type of man who can justify to himself the murder of his _little_ brother. Lu Ten was already gone. Grandfather was already gone, nothing you did would ever bring them back but... but _you_ were still here and _Ozai_ was still here and if you just... closed your eyes and pretended not to know, you could pretend that everything was alright. _Well, it's not alright, Uncle_. _It's never been alright!"_

Zuko watches as something in Uncle _cracks._ He genuinely can count on both hands the times he’s seen his uncle cry but this isn’t crying. This is something _breaking, shattering_ into pieces and scattering countless, sharp, and _vicious_ little shards in every direction. Uncle goes down sobbing, great, heart-wrenching sobs that tear right at Zuko’s heart, no matter how much he told himself he wasn’t going to care.

_He's always going to care!_

He breathes deep and finds himself wrapping his arms around his Uncle and letting him cling. This time, he clings back because he knows now why Uncle has never stood up to Ozai for him. He doesn't forgive him, will _never_ forgive him, but Lu Ten would have. Lu Ten who can never be here. Lu Ten who died because of his own uncle's greed and ambition. Lu Ten who would have savoured even a single moment longer with his father. Lu Ten who would have given anything to fall into his father's arms just _once_ more. So, he can do this, for Lu Ten. Lu Ten who would be so disappointed but who would understand, so Zuko forces himself to understand, too. 

Uncle never protected him from Ozai, because then he’d have to acknowledge the monster he helped raise. He never looked at what Ozai did to those who should be family because he’d have to look at what he may have done to those who were no longer with them. Something broke in Uncle when Lu Ten died, he patched it up with sticking tape and glue and ignored anything that would force the wound to reopen, forever looking away, pretending not to hear, reminding himself he doesn’t _know._

Ozai could of stood in front of Iroh and held up a sign that said ‘I killed Lu Ten and our father’ and Iroh would’ve averted his eyes, turned away, pretended not to see, to never see, because the alternative was becoming something he’s never been. A man capable of murdering his own family in cold blood. It would make him nothing more than another Ozai and he couldn’t allow it, so, _he looked away._ He looked away and he shifted in the shadows, dealt in whispers and rumours and elaborately crafted plots that kept him on the side lines. Never actually in a position to have to _look_ and see the monster he let his brother become.

Zuko wonders if he’d do the same for Azula. Look away, force himself not to see, not to hear, not to _know,_ because she’s younger than he is and he helped shape her in same way. Of course, he already knows the answer.

Azula is his Fire Lord and his baby sister. He looked at her the day she was born, all tiny and ugly and _so precious,_ and promised he would protect her, _always_.

Even from _herself._


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, uni has finally started back after our Level 4 lockdown ended. I have so many tests. Oh my gooooooddd. might not see me posting so often nowadays, since I'm still working everyday, as well. 
> 
> In other news, this chapter surprised the fuck out of me, since I wasn't planning on things to go this way... but that's probably because I relocated my shipper glasses... so...

“How’s Uncle?” Azula asks, without looking up when her brother enters her office and she knows it has to be Zuzu, because Mai would have already struck if it were anyone else. Zuko answers her question with a tired sigh that Azula _just_ manages not to mirror. She’s only had the throne for almost two months and she’s already exhausted of it. It takes to much to run a country and to end a war.

She glances up at her brother, considers him for a few moments before shoving a stack of parchment towards him. He snorts and steps forward to snatch up the stack and move to the desk that he’d claimed the first day they’d come here, slipping through the corridors, nothing more than shadows in the night.

“Uncle assumed things would be as easy as claiming the throne and ending the war.” Zuko comments, as he sinks down into his own chair. Azula’s head snaps back up, from where she’d turned her attention back to the register in front of her, of all the war prisoners they currently hold.

“Did Uncle just suddenly forget that hundreds of our people are currently rotting in La’s grasp? That when Agni’s warmth grows too weak to reach them, they will wreck their havoc upon our world?” She asks, the disbelief dripping from her words.

“Yes.”

“ _Agni,_ our uncle is an absolute _idiot_ sometimes!” she grumbles, rubbing at her forehead. “If his whole goal _was_ to end the war, he could have waited until he was crowned… or you were and then given Ba Sing Se back to those stupid Earth Kingdom peasants _without_ dishonouring himself and _us._ He could have gotten his Old People to boil the ocean on the day of the Comet, but _no_! _”_ She exclaims, shaking her head. “Instead, the fool leads the assault on the city, then makes a try for the throne. What kind of-“ she stops herself, closes her eyes and _breathes,_ she’s been surrounded by idiot adults her entire life, realizing her uncle is also one of those idiot adults was a realization she had the day he let Ozai usurp him without comment. _This isn’t news._ “I take it you enlightened him?”

“I did. I don’t think he’ll be a problem in future, but I also forced him to acknowledge just what his brother has done to our family, so he might surprise us.” Zuko answers, she watches as he scowls at the parchment in from of him. “When did we make a claim on Gaoling?”

“We haven’t. Gaoling are requesting to be named an official colony. I think they’ve seen the writing on the wall for the Earth Kingdom and would rather not go down with them.” She answers, shrugging her shoulders. “What are they asking for?”

“Lao Beifong is requesting news of his daughter.” Zuko huffs, glaring at the parchment before looking up at her. “He’s also offering her hand in marriage to the noble man of _your_ choosing if it will secure Gaoling’s place as a colony.”

“Why would we have news of his daughter?” Azula asks, staring at her brother in confusion, he snorts at her and rolls his eyes.

_“Sister._ Did you not bother looking at any of the information the Dai Li had on the Avatar and his friends? The Avatar’s earthbending master is Toph _Beifong._ ” He explains, Azula stares at him blankly for a few moments before she starts laughing.

“I see.” Then she eyes her brother contemplatively, he cringes in response apparently recognizing the look on her face, she laughs again. “ _One_ of us needs to be married, Zuzu. _I’m_ not going to be getting pregnant, so you’re going to have to father an heir.”

“Azula-“

“No. It’s horrible, Zuko! Mother told me that female firebenders can’t firebend after the first trimester since it could damage the baby! I’m not going without my bending for _six months_ so some _parasite_ can grow and tear its way out of me in thanks for nine months of bullshit. No thank you.” She tells him, making a face at the thought. “No, you can provide our heir.”

“ _Wow_. Alright. _But_ I’m not just gonna marry Toph because her father is so desperate to save his own skin that he’s happy to throw her away. _If_ Toph says yes, you can… sorry, _Ty Lee_ can plan an elaborate wedding. If Toph says no, I’ll find myself a bride on my own, thank you, very much!” Zuko retorts, Azula sighs at him but waves her hand dismissively.

“Fine, fine. If the earthbender wants to go and smash her father’s face in, she’s welcome to it, that’s an order from their new Fire Lord.” She says, making the decision in that moment to accept the offer that’s on the table. “We’ll need to send firebenders to Gaoling to light the vigil fires.”

“Easy enough to organize. I’ll take care of that, I guess I’ll also speak with Toph.” Zuko comments, putting the parchment to the side and picking up another. “You know she’s twelve, right?”

“Is there a father that exists anywhere in this world that actually gives a shit about their spawn?” Azula mutters, feeling suddenly patricidal… again. “Betrothal for the next five years, once she’s of age, we can plan a wedding.”

“Right.” Zuko answers, sighing heavily and changing the subject. “When are you planning to declare a truce?”

“I’m giving myself two weeks, in that time I’ll hopefully have sorted out the war council, which I suppose we should start calling the Advisory Council, once again.” Azula answers, turning her attention back to the register and humming as certain names and titles catch her attention. “You know, I forgot we captured the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors as well as the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe.” She says, grabbing a spare piece of parchment and writing both their names down, along with other notable names.

“Reunite the Southern Water Tribe benders with their Chief and see if they’re willing to negotiate a peace?” Zuko asks, looking towards her.

“That’s my current thinking. We should probably also send someone to the South Pole to light the vigil fires. I doubt our Dead will go that far south, but we can’t be sure, and we don’t want the Southern Tribe wiped out.”

“Right. That’s going to be interesting, but we’ll see how that goes.” Zuko answers, Azula just laughs and continues writing down names. “Could consider claiming Kyoshi Island as a colony, but I doubt it’ll work.”

“It’s doubtful, we could point out that Kyoshi probably doesn’t want her homeland destroyed because of the actions of her current life, they might choose us then.” She points out, notes the considering hum from her brother, but doesn’t set her heart on it.

If Kyoshi Island wants to be lost to the history books, like its namesake, who is she to deny them?

* * *

“So, let me get this straight. Aang let a spirit possess him at the North Pole and the spirit drowned the entire Fire Nation fleet? Leaving hundreds, if not thousands, of Fire Nation Sailors trapped in their bodies to become vengeance spirits?” Toph demands, her fists clenched and her feet stamped in the earth, as she listens to her friends’ heartbeats as they take in everything Uncle has just told them. “ _Then,_ as if that wasn’t enough, _we_ went off and took down a whole fleet of Air Ships right over the ocean, trapping even _more Fire Nation Soldiers_ in their bodies to become vengeance spirits?”

“That is an accurate, if unfortunate, summary, Master Toph.” Uncle replies, and if Toph wasn’t so busy worrying about the Oma and Shu damned _vengeance spirits_ she’d be worried about how low Uncle’s inner spark is burning and how tired he seems to be now.

“You didn’t consider using the Comet to boil the ocean instead of reclaiming Ba Sing Se?” Toph asks, frowning. “I’d consider getting rid of vengeance spirits to be a bit more important than reclaiming a city that _really_ doesn’t care who is occupying it at any given time.”

“I admit I had forgotten the danger posed.” Uncle says, slumping in on himself in a way he has never done before, at least, in a way she has never seen before. She knows her history, knows exactly what it took for him to break his siege on Ba Sing Se six years ago. Knows that even to this day, some of her countrymen crow about breaking the spirit of the Dragon of the West. Whatever happened in that war chamber has broken him all over again.

“Right. I’m going for a walk. Come find me when you’ve all figured out how to unfuck _your_ massive fuck up!” she states, before stomping out of the room. She’d noticed that since Azula’s _secret_ return, she has free reign of the palace, where the others are quietly corralled back to their quarters whenever they stray too far. She doesn’t quite know what makes her special of all of them, but she’s not going to complain. She’s enjoyed watching Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee run their little charades.

No one had actually bothered to explain to her what had happened in the North Pole. The moment they’d told her what Aang had done to Ozai, she’d felt her heart drop out of her chest. Aang is a bender, has been a bender all his life, she doesn’t understand how he could ever possibly believe permanently removing someone’s ability to bend is better than just killing them. She’s nothing without her earthbending. Just a too mouthy, blind, noblewoman who isn’t worth anything more to her family than her ability to marry and produce children. She knows her parents love her, but that’s all she is to them without her earthbending. She can’t fathom going back to being that, but she would have to, if Aang ever decided that _she_ was too dangerous to be allowed to bend.

She can’t lie to herself and say that isn’t exactly what they’d been planning for Azula; if Uncle had challenged her and won. Azula who they’d decided was too dangerous to be able to ever bend again. Azula who Sparky has firmly thrown his lot in with. Azula who has done nothing but interact with her people and her brother and let her traitorous uncle live. If Azula had been here when the group arrived and if Uncle had won, Azula would have already been without bending by the time Toph arrived. Then again, she supposes, without Aang’s energybending, she hates to consider the idea that Azula might have been executed, instead. Azula who is only two years her senior, both of them still children.

Aang misstepped at the North Pole; when he allowed the Ocean spirit to possess him and wipe out an entire fleet. You cannot fight the ocean, those sailors never even had a chance, not a single one. It’s like if she threw a boulder at a baby, the baby has no chance to defend itself from her. The only person who should have been subject to La’s wrath was Admiral Zhao, who was dragged to the bottom of the ocean by La. He is the only person La should have touched, the only person that _Aang_ should have allowed La to touch, but Aang left La to rage and claim the entire fleet, who probably didn’t even know what their commander intended. An entire fleet of Fire sent to the watery depths and left to rot.

There is a reason the Avatar exists, they’re to keep the balance between the Spirit World and the Living World and Aang has tipped the scales completely. He allowed La to claim Children of Agni who were not at fault for the offense against La and Tui. Then, Aang further spat in Agni’s face when he took Ozai’s bending without asking the Great Spirit _first_. The Fire Nation now reject the Avatar and everything he now stands for; they will look to Azula and Zuko to bring balance back to their world and the Avatar will be hated. She supposes there’s a reason the Avatar isn’t supposed to be told until they’re sixteen, sometimes young children are just… incapable of honestly thinking through their actions. Aang, she knows, still doesn’t even know why what he did at the North Pole and to Ozai was wrong and that’s why Azula and Zuko’s plans will succeed.

If a person is given firebending at Agni’s will, what does that mean for an Avatar who has insulted the Sun Spirit at every opportunity? What does that mean for the Avatar Cycle?

* * *

Zuko escapes the parchment work when Agni’s light has faded for the day. Azula had left earlier than he had, since Mai had decided that it was dangerous to allow fire-breathing near the parchments and so his sister had promptly been ushered away, leaving him and Ty Lee to gossip while he dealt with the tedious work.

Now, he’s free of his duties for the day. Aimlessly wandering about the palace, it’s something he’s taken to doing, since he healed enough to have the energy for it. It’s odd being able to go _anywhere,_ and _not_ having somewhere to go. In his cell, he’d itched to be anywhere else, he’d made a list of places he wanted to go to and things he wanted to do when – _if - he_ ever got free. But he’s free now and he has nowhere to go.

Of course, he _does_ have somewhere to go, more accurately, someone to find and he finds her on his walk. She’d told him, on that first day that they properly talked, that his tracking skills were something to proud of and he hadn’t really believed her, but here he is. Aimlessly walking and still ending up where he needs to be, so maybe she’s on to something.

“So, I have something to tell you that you probably won’t like. Promise not to drop the world out from under me?” Zuko asks, as they find their way to the Turtle Duck pond.

“Hmm. I promise not to drop the ground out from under _you,_ other people? Not so much.”

“Right. Good enough.” Zuko says, shrugging his shoulders. “Azula received correspondence from Lao Beifong of Gaoling.” He explains, mulling things over in his head, trying to decide how to break things to her easily. “Gaoling has requested to be made an official colony of the Fire Nation. To secure their place, Lao Beifong has offered the hand of his only daughter to a Fire Nation nobleman of the Fire Lord’s choice.” He watches as Toph’s hands clench into fists and the ground around her feet cracks, but she doesn’t otherwise react. “Azula is _offering_ to betroth you to _me_ for the next five years. If you still agree, we’d be married then. You can say no, we’re still going to claim Gaoling, so you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, and even if you say yes today, you have five years to say no.”

“Did he say why he wants to tie us to the Fire Nation?” Toph queries, her voice quivering, even as her body doesn’t.

“Your family has been in bed with the Fire Nation since before the war began.” Zuko answers, crossing his arms over his chest. “It’ll be no secret to your father that the Earth Kingdom is… not in a good place.”

“Right.” Toph frowns at Zuko, clenching and unclenching her hands. “Am I supposed to just be your trophy wife? Hanging off your arm looking pretty? Popping out babies?” Zuko snorts and shakes his head, laughing. He yelps when she punches him in the arm.

“Ow. Sorry, but can you imagine someone trying to make _Azula_ a _trophy wife_? We don’t do that in the Fire Nation. Almost all of our women know how to fight, some of them are even in the army or the navy.” He explains, rubbing his arm from where she’d punched him. “Marriage to me gives you the title of Princess and a few Royal Duties such as accompanying me on tours around the Fire Nation. Outside that, you can do whatever you want, go wherever you want, whenever you want. We will be expected to have children at some point, since Azula’s already decided she’s not going to, so I need to provide our heirs.”

“Right. I’ll say yes, for now.” Toph tells him, crossing her arms over her chest and scowling at the earth, then slowly she raises her head, looking at him with her unseeing eyes. “ _But…_ we have to save the Earth Kingdom or the answer will become no.”

“We can’t really save the North Pole or the Earth Kingdom, Toph. We can put up protections, of course, but unless someone is willing to go and ask La if he’ll give back our Drowned Dead, we’re just prolonging the inevitable.” Zuko answers, heaving a sigh and sitting down beside the pond. “The Drowned have to come out of the water before we can burn them, therefore, we need to _let_ them come out of the water. They won’t do that if we light the Vigil Fires all along the shores.”

“Saving the Earth Kingdom is easy then.” Toph tells him, a smirk forming on her lips. “Ozai burnt a vast amount of the Earth Kingdom. Light the Vigil Fires on the borders of the burnt-out lands and we can lure the Dead there. Earthbenders can block them all in once we think they’ve all wandered ashore, then you can burn them.” Zuko considers her suggestion, thinking through the logistics of it before he sighs.

“Right, so that sounds doable. What about the North Pole? More people died in the North Pole than on the shores of the Earth Kingdom. How do we save them?”

“That I don’t know.” She answers, shaking her head. “The water benders could try to give back the Dead, but it would take forever. _Wait_ , didn’t Sokka’s girlfriend turn into the Moon?”

“Uh.” Zuko stares at Toph blankly, he doesn’t remember that happening, but he does remember Uncle talking about the young Princess of the Northern Water Tribe sacrificing herself so the Moon might live, so- “ _Maybe?_ ”

“New plan. Tell Sokka to go and sit his ass down in meditation and beseech _his_ lady to convince _her_ man to give back _your_ Dead.” Zuko snorts and rubs at his eyes, his life has become a spirit tale and sometimes he’s not sure its real. That it’s not just a symptom of his brain giving him up. That he’s still trapped in that stupid cell, wasting away.

“You get to tell him that.” He finally mutters, deciding if this is just some fantasy he’s created in his final days, it’s better than being in that cell. So, he’ll go along with it until it becomes real or until the day comes where he just… doesn’t wake up.

“Fair. I’ll go tell him right now!” Toph announces, jumping to her feet, a vicious smile on her face. “Also, tell Azula that she has five years to figure out how to combine red and green without making me look like some sort of Yule ornament!” is her parting comment, before she shoots off in search of Sokka, leaving Zuko staring after her in surprise.


End file.
